A TONE POEM HONORING CIVIL RIGHTS HEROINE ROSA PARKS. IT CONTAINS 3 SECTIONS: THE 1ST EVOKES HER EARLY YEARS TO MARRIAGE, THE 2ND PORTRAYS YEARS OF RACIAL STRIFE IN ALABAMA, THE 3RD IS SERENITY, YET AN OMINOUS REMINDER OF RACISM'S LINGERING PRESENCE.
highschool bands
jazz bands
college bands
all region bands
community bands
concert bands
honor bands
interlochen arts academy
marching bands
national music camp
tmea all state bands
university bands
Story behind the song
Subtitled "Honoring Civil Rights Heroine Rosa Parks", this grade 5 work by Mark Camphouse has been a mainstay of the band literature since the early 1990's. Band literature is graded 1-6, with 1 being the easiest.
Music professor, composer and conductor Mark Camphouse wrote "A Movement for Rosa" to honor civil rights heroine Rosa Parks. This tone poem contains three contrasting sections. The first evokes Rosa's early years, from her 1913 birth in Tuskegee, Alabama, through her marriage in 1932 to Raymond Parks. Section II portrays the years of racial strife in Montgomery and the quest for social equality. The final section is one of quiet strength and serenity, yet its final dissonant measures serve as an ominous reminder of racism's lingering presence in modern American society. Camphouse sat with her at one of the work's performances, which he calls "the most memorable experience that I've had as a musician and as an American." A native of Chicago and with music degrees from Northwestern University, he is professor of music and director of bands at Radford University in Virginia.